Carding device

ABSTRACT

A device for improved carding having a concave support with a curvature corresponding to the curvature of a main cylinder includes a plurality of segments or bands of wire having a predetermined concave reverse curvature therein, so that sides opposite base portions of the bands face inwardly. A plurality of the reverse curved segments are positioned in adjacent rows in alignment on the support with teeth on the sides of the bands opposite the base portions facing inwardly. The segments are fastened on the support as by clamping. The segments have a curvature corresponding to the curvature of the concave support by virtue of a reverse set prior to being fastened on the support.

United States Patent Inventor John D. Hollingsworth P.O. Box 516, Greenville, S.C.

Appl. No 130,619

Filed Apr. 2, 1971 Patented Sept. 14, I971 Continuation of application Ser. No. 869,300, Oct. 24, 1969, now abandoned which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 793,715,.Ian. 24, 1969, now abandoned which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 729,068, May 14, 1968, now abandoned.

CARDING DEVICE 2 Claims, 10 Drawing Figs. 7

US.CI. 19/113 lnt.Cl. D01g 15/24 Field of Search. 19/1 12.

Primary Examiner-Dorsey Newton Attorneys-Ralph Bailey and Julian W. Dority ABSTRACT: A device for improved carding having a concave support with a curvature corresponding to the curvature of a main cylinder includes a plurality of segments or bands of wire having a predetermined concave reverse curvature therein, so that sides opposite base portions of the bands face inwardly. A plurality of the reverse curved segments are positioned in adjacent rows in alignment on the support with teeth on the sides of the bands opposite the base portions facing inwardly. The segments are fastened on the support as by clamping. The segments have a curvature corresponding to the curvature of the concave support by virtue of a reverse set prior to being fastened on the support.

PATENTED SEP I 4 l9?! SHEET 1 BF 5 INVENTOR Tom D. Homuaswowru BY M ATTORNEY PATENTEU SEP14|97I 3, 604 O62 sum 20F 5 FIG. 2

INVENTOR TOM D. Hmmeswom ATTORNEY PATENIEnsEPMnn 3,604,062

- sum 3 or 5 FIG; 6

INVENTOR Tom D. HoLLmgswon-n ATTORNEY PATENTED SEP 1 4 WI SHEET 5 OF 5 Y I I; //l///////// FIG.1O

CARDING DEWCE This is a continuation of copending application, Ser. No. 869,300, filed Oct. 24, 1969, which is a continuation-impart of Ser. No. 793,715 filed Jan. 24, l969, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 729,068, filed May l4, l968, all now abandoned.

The invention concerns novel metallic wire card clothing which may be fastened to a concave support and positioned in caring relation to a main cylinder of a card tomake possible greatly improved carding of textile fibers.

Prior proposed carding devices employing concave supports are impractical for a number of reasons. In British Pat. No. 400,971 of Nov. 6, 1933, a series of elongated flat strips carrying metallic wire clothing are fastened successively about a concave support by screwing their edges to the support. The teeth are formed or ground to produce a concavity. Such a construction has the disadvantages of difficulty in fabrication, a discontinuous surface due to spaces between strips, and an impaired carding surface resulting from the grinding. In British Pat. No. 680,445 of Oct. 8, I952, fillet clothing is stretched and clamped on a pair of hinged concave metal strips. Such has the disadvantages of difficulty in fabrication, a discontinuous surface, and the inherent disadvantages of fillet clothing. Other efforts to improve carding, including certain uses of concave supports, are discussed in greater detail below.

The invention contemplates novel card clothing for use in a carding apparatus having a support, such as the metal plate 37, with a concave portion positioned adjacent the periphery of a main cylinder 30 having card clothing with teeth 35 on its surface for holding the fibers to be carded (FIGS. 1 and 2). The concave portion has a curvaturecorresponding to the card clothing of the main cylinder. Adjacent rows of circumferentially curved metallic wire base portions 95 (FIG. 7 and 8) have a reverse set of predetermined curvature therein and extend across the main cylinder. Curved outer portions of the wire base portions have a curvature corresponding to the curvature of the concave portion. Curved teeth-carrying portions, which are illustrated as including the shoulder 94, of the wire base portions are opposite the outer curved portions and have a curvature corresponding thereto. Spaced inverted carding teeth 93 are carried integrally on the curved teeth-carrying 1 portions projecting inwardly. A continuous carding surface is defined by the inverted teeth having a curvature corresponding to the card clothing covering an area of a plurality of flats and the like. The inverted teeth are of such configuration as to cave portion as on the roll 91, prior to being fastened on said support.

Thus, the support may be positioned as illustrated with the inverted teeth in carding relation disposed toward the teeth of the clothing of the main cylinder conforming thereto (FIGS. 1, 2, and 6) so that carding occurs continuously and uniformly over substantially the entire continuous carding surface defined by the inverted teeth, and an enlarged carding area is provided permitting elimination of card flats and the like while affording improved carding with less waste.

There are three main types of machines for carding textile fibers. These are commonly termed the revolving flat top card,

the granular or flatless card and the roller top card. In all of ;these cards there is one surface on which the fibers are car- "ried. This is a rotatable cylinder which has a plurality of teeth over its entire surface. These teeth may be either fillet clothing or metallic clothing. By various means fibers are placed on the teeth of this cylinder usually termed the main cylinder, and

carried by the cylinder through a portion of its rotation and are carded by other teeth. After being carded, these fibers are removed from the main cylinder by doffer cylinders or other means well known in the art.

In the flat-type card a series of revolving flats are placed adjacent the surface of the main cylinder over a portion of its periphery and these flats either move slowly in the same or 0pposite direction of the cylinder or may be stationary. The fllllli are T-shaped in section and are usually a little longer on both sides than the cylinder is wide. The part of the flats that faces the cylinder is covered with card clothing. Usually the clothing of the flats is finer than the clothing on the cylinder and the teeth are more tightly set or closer together. The points of the clothing on these flats almost touch the cylinder. The exact distance varies but it is usually greater than 0.01 inch. The side of each flat pointing toward the feed end of the card is called the toe and the opposite side is called the heel. The flats, to provide good carding, are set so that the heel is slightly closer to the main cylinder than the toe of the flat. In standard operation as the fibers on the cylinder move past the slowly moving or stationary flats they are carded. In standard revolving flats to card the flats are removed from the surface of the cylinder at the front end and returned to the cylinder at the rear end. During this operation the flats are cleaned and fibers removed from between the teeth of the clothing to accomplish a more efficient carding operation.

In granular card the main cylinder has a cover placed over a portion of its periphery and the surface of this cover facing the cylinder has sand paper, emery cloth, or other irregular particulate type of surface, such as illustrated in US. Letter Pat. No. 2,879,549, issued Mar. 31, 1959. This carding operation has been found satisfactory for clean synthetic fibers, but is not as satisfactory for the natural fibers or for fiber stock such as cotton which contains trash and waste particles. A variation of such a device is illustrated in US. Letters Pat. No. 3,402,432, issued Sept. 24, I968.

The third type of card, i.e., roller top, has a group of rolls which are covered with teeth positioned adjacent the main cylinder. These rolls are rotatable and accomplish the carding operation along the line of tangency between the roll and main cylinder. Such cards are usually used when carding synthetic or wool fibers.

In revolving flat type cards and roller top cards the teeth on the flats or rolls are set a specific distance from the teeth on the main cylinder. For example, in a revolving flat type card starting at the front end of the card the first flat and its first portion is a specific distance from the main cylinder and as you pass to the rear of the first flat this distance decreases. There is then a space of about nine-sixteenth of an inch between the teeth of the first flat and the teeth of the next flat. The second flat is also spaced a specific distance from the main cylinder and as you pass to the rear of the second flat this distance decreases and so for the number of flats adjacent the card surface which may be 20, 30, or even more. With regard to the roller type card the only carding action occurs at about the tangent line where the roller meets the main cylinder and there is considerable distance between rollers where no carding takes place.

Hence, in these prior-art-type carding apparatuses the carding action is only accomplished at intermittent tangent lines along the moving carding surface.

With regard to the granular-type card the carding surface is made up of granules which are irregular in shape, have little depth, and a poor ratio of thinness to height and also have relatively smooth surfaces; hence, the efficiency of the carding is poor. These granules may be replaced with wire teeth such as fillet clothing. This improves the carding action but the fillet teeth rapidly fill with dirt and short fibers and lose their carding effectiveness.

in my new carding apparatus the distance between the carding surface, i.e., main cylinder and my new carding teeth may be uniform over the entire surface and provide sufficient carding over the entire surface rather than merely at tangents thereto. Preferably, my new carding teeth are set closer to the main cylinder at the discharge and than at the feed endof the cylinder. Preferably, the setting of the teeth at the discharge end of the main cylinder is less than 0.0l inch and about 0.008 inch.

Furthermore, my new apparatus has metallic teeth which are uniformly spaced over the surface and produce very efficient carding. The plate has substantially the same curvature as the roll and covers a portion of the periphery of the roll. The inside surface of the plate is covered with metallic clothing having its teeth disposed towards the roll.

The metallic teeth in accordance with the present invention do not overload and hence, need not be moved for cleaning purposes, but may be utilized in a stationary manner to further control the settings between the moving main cylinder and the carding teeth and allow for greatly improved carding action.

In accordance with the present invention my apparatus comprises a rotatable roll having card clothing, i.e., fillet clothing or metallic clothing on its surface for carrying fibers to be carded. A curved plate covers a portion of the periphery of the rotatable roll and is spaced substantially the same distance from the card clothing over substantially the entire area of said plate. The plate has metallic teeth on its inner surface adjacent the card clothing on the roll for continuously carding fibers as they are carried by the rotatable roll and pass the curved plate. The carded fibers are removed from the roll by standard means for removing fibers from a toothed rotatable roll as are well known in the art.

If desired, the curved plate may be positioned slightly closer to the card clothing at the front end of the card and slightly further away from the clothing at the rear end of the card to give uniformly increased carding action as the fibers pass from the feed to the product end of the card.

In accordance with the present invention the teeth on my curved plate must make an angle with the vertical of from -l0 to +30 and preferably from about +I0 to Furthermore, the teeth must have a minimum height of 0.010 inch and a maximum height of 0.075 inch. It is preferred that they have a height of between 0.020 inch to 0.045 inch. The desired angle and depth will vary with the type of stock that is being carded. Also, the number of teeth per square inch of surface of the new plate must be in the range of 175 teeth per square inch and [,200 teeth per square inch and preferably from about 270 to 600 teeth per square inch.

It should be pointed out at this time that all of the above figures are extremely critical to the satisfactory operation of my improved carding plate and to eliminate the loading problem of fibers in the teeth of my new plate. The optimum plate has teeth at an angle of 15 and a depth of 0.032 inch with 350 teeth per square inch.

Similar tooth configurations including height, density and angle have been used on other carding elements. Such, however, have not been used-on curved supports as here where it has been found that loading may be avoided thereby.

It should also be noted that my invention may be used in conjunction with revolving flat-type cards or with roller-type cards where the fibers are first carded by revolving flats or rollers covering a portion of the carrying surface and the finished carding accomplished by placing a smaller plate adjacent the carrying surface in accordance with the present invention to further card the fibers.

Another advantage of the present invention is that smaller diameter main cylinders may readily be used with equal or better carding results.

It should also be noted that metallic clothing has many known advantages over fillet clothing in that the metallic clothing is more durable and is not required to be ground as often.

Though there are a number of ways of producing a curved surface having teeth on its inner surface, I have also developed a new method of placing metallic teeth on the inside of a curved surface in a very uniform manner in a very simple operation.

In accordance with my method for producing curved carding plates I place a set in the desired metallic wire. This set in the wire is in the opposite direction as is normally placed, that is, the teeth form the inside of the curvature and the base of the teeth form the outside of the curvature. The opposite is true when winding metallic clothing by standard techniques. I wind the reverse set metallic wire about a cylinder with the teeth against the surface of the cylinder. After the clothing has been wound in this manner on the cylinder the bottom, or base, of the teeth is ground to provide an even surface. One or more plates of metal, plastic, wood, or similar materials are secured to the ground base. The plates may be secured to the base of the teeth by glue, welding, or other well known techniques for securing materials to metal. The clothing is cut down to the surface of the inner cylinder between plates. The teeth are uniformly placed over the entire curved surface.

The present invention will be more fully described when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. I is a side elevational view of the apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the improved carding surfaces of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a single tooth;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a modification of a single tooth;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of apparatus for producing surfaces in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of plates produced in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 10 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 10-10 of FIG. 9.

Referring to FIG. 1 there is shown a standard card machine with one major exception in that the flats have been replaced by a carding surface in accordance with the present invention. The sketch is not meant to be to scale as the size of the teeth in the card clothing, for instance, is exaggerated for purposes of clarity. At the left is the feed end or back of the card. A picker lap 20 having a rod 21 passing through the center with the sides of this rod held in a slide, not shown for the purposes of clarity, but as is well known in the art feeds the layer of fibers 22 to the card. This lap rests on a roll 23 called the lap roll and which may be fluted if desired. The fiber lap is drawn over the feed plate 24 by the feed roll 25 which is driven to provide a uniform feed to the card. The feed roll is usually fluted and is weighted so that it will have a good grip on the fibers. As the roll slowly rotates the fringe of the layer of fibers is pushed over the nose 26 of the feed plate. The fringe of fibers is picked up by the licker-in 27 which rotates in the direction shown. Wire teeth 28 cover the surface of the licker-in and grab the fringe and take individual fibers or tufts of fibers about the surface of the licker-in and present them to the main cylinder 30 of the card. As the teeth of the licker-in pass the fringe of the fiber layer they hook fibers; however, they do not grab short fibers or trash and these are thrown by the centrifugal force of the licker-in onto the mute knives 31 and the licker-in screen 32 and are removed as in standard carding practices.

The main cylinder of the card rotates in the direction of the arrow shown and has teeth 35 over its entire surface. Though metallic teeth are shown these of course could be fillet clothing teeth. The teeth point in the direction shown and pick fibers from the licker-in as the cylinder rotates. The surface velocity of the main cylinder is faster than the surface velocity of the licker-in and hence, the teeth on the main cylinder strip the fibers from the licker-in cylinder. The fibers on the main cylinder of the card pass between the area covered by the improved carding surface 36 of the present invention. The top of the licker-in and the area of the main cylinder between the licker-in and the carding surface 36 is generally covered by a metallic plate 33 to prevent undue air currents.

As is more clearly shown in the enlargement in FIG. 2 the carding surface 36 comprise a metal plate 37 and on its inner surface are metallic teeth 38. The teeth are pointed in the direction as shown in the drawings. The plate is stationary and may be set a specific distance from the main cylinder. Usually this distance is about 0.01 inch. Very often, to give even better carding, the distance may be slightly greater at the feed end of the card, that is towards the left of the drawing, and slightly closer at the doffing end of the card, i.e., the right of the main cylinder. The plate being stationary may be set with extreme accuracy and maintained with that accuracy and the entire area from points A to B is carding area of the card. As is shown in FIG. 2, the main cylinder 30 of the card has the teeth 35 mounted on its surface with the teeth of the main cylinder pointed in the direction shown and with the main cylinder moving in the direction of the arrow shown. The teeth have a shoulder 40 at their bottom portion to keep rows of teeth separated and present a toothed surface of individual teeth. Mounted adjacent this main cylinder and extremely close as previously described, is the carding surface 36 which comprises the metal plate 37 and mounted on this metal plate are metallic teeth 38 pointed in the direction, as shown in the drawings. These teeth also have a shoulder 41 at their base portion to keep the teeth a specific distance apart from adjacent rows.

The fibers, after being carded by my improved carding surface, are presented to a standard doffing cylinder 45 which rotates in the direction of the arrow shown. This doffing cylinder also has suitable teeth 46 mounted on its surface and of the surface velocity of the main cylinder and hence, the fibers on the main cylinder are condensed onto the doffing cylinder in the form of a web. As the dofiing cylinder rotates it presents this web to the doffing comb 48. The doffing comb resembles a fine saw which reciprocates at high speeds and removes the fibers from the doffing cylinder in the form of a fibrous web 49. The fibrous web is then presented to calendar rolls 50 and to standard coiler cans as are well known in the art. The entire mechanism is mounted on a suitable framing 51 so that it isan integral unit and is driven by suitable belts, drives, and gears as are well known in the art and which have not been shown for the purposes of clarity.

The major problem with prior art stationary flats which are covered with fillet clothing are of course that they load up heavily and hence reduce the carding efficiency of the flats. 'Contrasted to this my teeth do not overload provided they meet certain critical requirements. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 my metallic teeth on my improved carding surface must make an angle a with the vertical of from l0 to +30. A minus angle'is shown in FIG. 4 and a plus angle shown in FIG. 3. It is preferred that the angle be from to 20 and the best results are obtained when this angle is Though the angle is of extreme importance the height (h) of the teeth is also extremely important and must be from 0.010 inch to 0.075 inch and preferably from 0.02 inch to 0.045 inch. We have found that the best results are obtained with most stocks when the height of theteeth is from 0.026 inch to 0.032 inch. If the height is less than 0.010 inch there is not sufficient area to produce sufficient'carding, whereas, if the height is more than 0.075 inch the teeth will readily overload with fibers and again reduce the efficiency of the carding. The angle and the height will depend from the most part on the type stock that is being carded, that is, the trashier or dirtier the stock the less the angle should be f and the greater the capacity desired through the card the less i the angle should be. However, the greater the angle generally the better the carding operation.

,It should also be noted that metallic clothing is extremely durable and can be ground more accurately than fillet clothing. The extreme accuracy with which my improved carding surface may be set with respect to the main cylinder also reduces possibilities of damage to the card clothing.

The setting of my improved carding plate is important and the great degree of control available in setting my plate greatly improves the carding efficiency. It is preferred that the edge of the plate closest to the discharge end of a card be set closer to the main cylinder than the edge of the plate closest to the feed end of the card. For example, if four of my new plates are used to replace the flats of a standard card the plate next to the licker-in might be set at 0.034 inch, the second plate at 0.022 inch, the third plate at 0.015 inch and the fourth plate closest to the dofflng cylinder at 0.008 inch. It is important that the teeth on the plate closest to the doffer be set within 0.0l0 inch of the teeth on the main cylinder to effect good carding.

Referring to FIG. 5, there is shown an embodiment of the present invention wherein my improved carding surface 60 is used in combination with the standard revolving flats 61. This is a simple modification which may be made to present-day cards merely by reducing the area that the flats cover on the surface of the main cylinder of the card or even by just replacing the front plate of the card with my improved carding surface. The main cylinder 62 of the card rotates in the direction of the arrow shown and has suitable teeth 63 positioned as shown in the drawing. The teeth as shown are metallic teeth, however, fillet clothing teeth could also be used. The revolving flats 64 are T-shaped in section and are a little longer on both sides than the cylinder is wide. The part of the flats that faces the cylinder is covered with card clothing 65. The clothing of the flats is finer than the clothing of the cylinder and usually the teeth are more tightly set. The flats are connected by links 66 and to a chain. This chain is supported by suitable pulleys 67 one of which is shown. The distance between the points on the flats and the points on the main cylinder is usually about 0.01 inch. The side of the flat pointing toward the left of the drawing is called the toe and the opposite side is called the heel. The heel is generally a little closer to the main cylinder teeth than the toe. This is done to improve the operation and prevent the possibility of damage to the main cylinder of the card. As can be seen there is a distance between the teeth of one flat and the teeth of the next flat though the holding means for the teeth of the flat are virtually touching each other as must be the case to prevent undesirable air currents. Generally the curved area or actual carding area of each flat is about thirteen-sixteenths of an inch and the distance from the teeth of one flat to the teeth of the next flat is about nine-sixteenths of an inch. Mounted in front of these revolving flats is my improved carding surface 60 comprising a metal plate 70 having metallic teeth 71 mounted on its inner surface adjacent the main cylinder of the card with the teeth pointed as shown in the drawings. The metal plate may be set very accurately to the teeth of the main cylinder. As can be readily seen the entire area of the metal plate provides carding action, whereas, on the revolving flat portion actually only about 60 percent of the surface provides carding action.

Referring to FIG. 6, there is shown another embodiment of the present invention wherein my improved carding surface 75 is combined with a roller top card 76. The roller top card comprises a main cylinder 77 rotating in the direction of the arrow as shown and having suitable teeth 78 over its entire surface. As shown in the drawings these teeth are metallic clothing though they could befillet clothing and teeth point in the direction as shown in the drawing. Over a portion of the surface of the main cylinder there are worker rolls 79 and 80 and stripper rolls 81 and 82 combined with said worker rolls. The worker and stripper rolls rotate in the directions of their respective arrows. There may be just one pair of rolls or there may be a number of them. These rolls are covered with suitable wire teeth made of metallic wire or fillet clothing over their surfaces. As the worker roll rotates it picks up fibers from the main cylinder of the card, moves them about its surface to present them to the stripper roll, which in turn, presents them back to the main cylinder of the card for further carding action. As may be seen, the carding actually occurs at those lines where the rolls meet the main cylinder hence, the carding action is at these tangent lines. Mounted in front of the worker stripper rolls, again it may be merely a replacement of the front plate of a roller top card, is my improved carding surface 75 comprising a metal plate 83 having metallic teeth 84 mounted on its inside surface. The teeth point in the direction as shown in the drawing. Again these teeth may be mounted with extreme accuracy with respect to the teeth on the main cylinder of the card and present all of the advantages as described hereinbefore in conjunction with FIG. 5.

Any of the known cardable fibers may be carded by the apparatus of the present invention. Examples of such fibers are the natural fibers, such as cotton and wool, or the synthetic fibers such as rayon, nylon, polyester, etc.

There are different ways of making my improved carding surfaces. FIGS. 7 through 10 show my preferred technique for making my carding surface. Referring to FIG. 7, metallic wire 90 is supplied from a coil or other suitable source as is well known. Metallic wire is produced by punching the teeth out of one side of a narrow band of steel. The opposite side of the band is thicker than the side having the teeth. The wire is passed about a rotatable roll 91 more clearly shown in FIG. 8, which has a groove 92 about its circumference. The teeth 93 of the wire fit into this groove and the shoulder 94 of the wire rests on the outer circumference of the roll. This places a curvature in the wire with the inner portion of the curvature being the teeth and the outer portion being the base 95 of the wire. The wire is wound with the teeth on the surface of a suitable cylinder 96. The cylinder may be metal, plastic, or other material. The cylinder or the grooved roll may be traversed very slowly so that the teeth are wound adjacent or abutting previous rows. Techniques for driving the cylinder or traversing the cylinder and roll are well known in the art and it is believed need not be described here.

As is more clearly shown in FIG-9, the cylinder 100 is completely covered with the inverted teeth 101. The base 102 of the teeth is ground and a plate 103 is placed on top of these teeth and secured thereto. Though only two plates are shown about this cylinder the entire surface of the cylinder may be covered. A cross-sectional view is shown in FIG. 10. The teeth are equally spaced over the entire surface of the cylinder. The teeth are cut between plates down to the surface of the inner cylinder to produce the carding surface of the present invention. The ends of the carding surface may be finished by grinding and placing another piece of metal at each end if desired. The teeth do not necessarily have to be glued, but could be clamped to the metal plate and would be held in this position by reason of their curvature.

Though I have shown a preferred technique for producing my improved carding surface there are other techniques for doing this rather than winding the teeth in the inverted manner as described. Such techniques would be to cut uniform strips of metallic wire and place them on the inner surface. Such technique would probably be more time consuming but could accomplish the carding surface in accordance with the present invention.

The invention will be more fully described when taken in conjunction with the following examples:

EXAMPLE I A standard lap of cotton fibers is processed on a card engine equipped with my new curved plates having card clothing mounted on their inside surface in accordance with the present invention. The lap weight is 40 pounds and the fibers have a staple length of 1 3/32 inch.

The entire lap is processed into 60 grain weight sliver at the rate of 30 pounds per hour.

The two similar laps of thesaine type fiber are processed into 60 grain sliver at the rate of 30 pounds per hour. One lap is processed on a standard card engine equipped with revolving top flats and the other on a standard card engine equipped with a granular top.

The slivers produced on each type card are spun into 24's size yarns by standard textile processes. The three comparative experiments are the same with the exception of the type of flats used in carding the cotton fibers.

The webs produced on each card and the resultant yarns spun from these webs are tested for various properties by standard textile testing methods. The results of these tests are given in the following table.

TABLE 1 Curved plate with Revolving Granular metallic top flats top clothing Test (web):

Percent fly waste (by weight) 015 .015 015 Percent flat strips (by weight).- 2 0 0 Percent variation (coefiicient of variation) 4. 3. 85 3. Number of neps per square inch- 66 35 15 Test (yarn):

Size 23. 95 23. 19 23. 58 Break (actual)... 99 103 103 Break factor 2, 334 2, 373 2, 433 Uster (seed. of variation). 20.01 19. 08 19. 44 Naps and trash per 1,000 y 156 101 Yarn grade (U. standards B B B Thin spots (Uster) 221 Thick spots (Uster) 144 88 88 As may be seen from the above test results both the web and the yarn produced by the card engine of the present invention unexpectedly have less neps and trash than do similar webs and yarns produced by standard cards. This is true even though less waste has been removed from the starting lap of cotton fibers than is usually removed when using a card equipped with revolving top flats.

Yarns produced from the webs made in accordance with thepresent invention also unexpectedly have less variation and better evenness than standard yarns and have a better overall general quality than do standard yarns.

EXAMPLE Ii The procedure of example I is followed exactly as described in example I with the exception that in all instances, the starting lap is polyester fiber, 1% denier, l inch staple length instead of the cotton fiber lap.

The webs and yarns produced are tested in the same manner as in example I. The results of these tests are given in the following table.

TABLE 2 Curved plate with Revolving Granular metallic Test (Web) top flats top clothing Percent fly waste (by weight) 015 015 015 Percent flat strips (by weight) 2 0 1: Percent varlat on (coetfieient of variation) 5. 25 4. 4 5. 2 24. 15 24.10 23. 85 Break (actual) 164 166 169 Break factor 3, 944 3, 990 4, 012 Uster (coefl. of variation 14. 48 14. 97 14. 63 Yarn grade (U.S. standards) 1 2 2 Ne and trash per 1,000 yards- 3 5 3 Th 11 spots (Uster) 106 171 101 Thick spots (Uster) 13 6 13 In accordance with the present invention the sliver produced using my new carding apparatus is more uniform and has less trash or waste than sliver produced by the prior art methods using the same starting material of natural fibers.

V Furtl err'r ore, yarnprodpced from such sliver has improved driving pulleys, belts, gears, speed ratio mechanism, frames,

etc. These are all standard and are well known in the art and have only been omitted for purposes of clarity in both the drawings and description. It should also be understood that suitable changes, modifications, and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present i n* vention.

I claim: 1. Wire card clothing comprising: A. a circumferential ly curved enlarged metallic wire base portion having a predetermined reverse curvature therein corresponding generally to a main carding cylinder;

B. a curved outer portion of said wire base portion having a curvature corresponding thereto;

C. a curved inner teeth carrying portion of said wire base portion opposite the outer curved portion and having a curvature corresponding thereto;

D. spaced inverted carding teeth of such configuration as to avoid loading carried integrally on said curved teeth carrying portion projecting inwardly; and

E. the curvature of said wire base portion, said curved outer portion and said curved inner teeth carrying portion being therein by a set having been placed therein, whereby said inverted teeth may be disposed in carding relation toward the teeth of clothing of a main carding cylinder so that carding occurs continuously over substantially an entire carding surface defined by said inverted teeth.

2. The wire card clothing set forth in claim 1, wherein the teeth are a" of eni qrw @121 

1. Wire card clothing comprising: A. a circumferentially curved enlarged metallic wire base portion having a predetermined reverse curvature therein corresponding generally to a main carding cylinder; B. a curved outer portion of said wire base portion having a curvature corresponding thereto; C. a curved inner teeth carrying portion of said wire base portion opposite the outer curved portion and having a curvature corresponding thereto; D. spaced inverted carding teeth of such configuration as to avoid loading carried integrally on said curved teeth carrying portion projecting inwardly; and E. the curvature of said wire base portion, said curved outer portion and said curved inner teeth carrying portion being therein by a set having been placed therein, whereby said inverted teeth may be disposed in carding relation toward the teeth of clothing of a main carding cylinder so that carding occurs continuously over substantially an entire carding surface defined by said inverted teeth.
 2. The wire card clothing set forth in claim 1, wherein the teeth are all of uniform height. 